For 50 years, CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King and media mogul Oprah Winfrey have shared one of Hollywood’s most documented friendships. But behind the scenes, the persistent public speculation that the two women were secretly in a romantic relationship actively frustrated King.
King recently confessed that the decades of gossip actually disrupted her personal life, as detailed in coverage of her recent admission. She explained that the rumors made it incredibly difficult to find romantic partners because potential suitors simply assumed she was already taken by Winfrey.
The frustration reached a point where King explicitly begged her best friend to address the gossip on national television. King wanted Winfrey to use The Oprah Winfrey Show to publicly shut down the speculation.
Winfrey refused. According to King, Winfrey preferred to ignore the noise entirely, telling her to “just leave it alone.”
King fired back at the double standard. “Well, that’s fine for you to say, you have somebody. I don’t,” King recalled telling Winfrey. She pointed out the obvious reality that Winfrey has been in a relationship with her partner, Stedman Graham, for over 35 years.
Winfrey has previously analyzed why the public was so fixated on their dynamic. She attributed the rumors to a societal misunderstanding, suggesting that audiences are unaccustomed to seeing two women share a profound “truth bond” completely devoid of jealousy or competition.
The pair has actively defended their platonic connection multiple times over the years. In a 2006 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, Winfrey noted that American culture lacked a proper definition for their specific type of friendship.
Four years later, during a highly publicized 2010 sit-down with Barbara Walters, Winfrey explicitly clarified her sexuality. She stated verbatim, “I am not lesbian. I am not even kind of lesbian.”